Merry Christmas from American Airlines :(

So originally we changed planes in Miami and landed in Mobay at 140 pm, with a 2 1/2 layover, not so bad and we were fine with it. Well, got an email today and we now land in mobay at 7pm. So our first day is totally shot, so disappointing. We may have to start going back in Feb to get the direct flights. You'd think with the merge there would be more flights, guess I'm niave.

We got the same email for our May flight (maybe the same as yours lol your details sound similar). I didn't want to lose our first day either. We called AA and they were able to change us on a different flight (no charge). Try calling they may be able to work with you!

So originally we changed planes in Miami and landed in Mobay at 140 pm, with a 2 1/2 layover, not so bad and we were fine with it. Well, got an email today and we now lsnd in mobay at 7pm. So our first day is totally shot, so disappointing. We may have to start going back in Feb to get the direct flights. You'd think with the merge there would be more flights, guess I'm niave.

AA didn't even get out business this year...

BUT, there could be a bright side. With delays that drastically alter the schedule, you can usually request the same flight a day earlier, and sleep in Mobay. If this works with your schedule and wallet, it gives you almost a full extra day at Couples. Landing at 1:40p is already about 3hrs past out preferred arrivals. 7p would have me barking into a phone.

We've had that happen with AA before and called them direct to let them know that the new times were unacceptable (a day of vacation in the airport isn't on the agenda). They eventually rebooked us so as to get us in on-time. The only problem...they forgot to tie the new booking (departure) to the old booking (return). This resulted in a 45 minute ticketing issue at Sangster International to get the problem resolved. We were able to get to the gate with 20 minutes to spare before boarding. Not the greatest way to end an awesome vacation in Jamaica.

These airlines always overbook and then begin cancelling flights if they're not filling as expected. This results in us, the traveler, having to adjust so they can fill their flights.

You might try giving them a call to see if they can help you get "home" closer to on-time. Just be sure they tie both bookings together.

It is a shame when you are arriving so late at an all-inclusive and paying a full day's rate for basically a late dinner and a room to sleep. You might want to consider adjusting your Couples reservation and staying at a less expense place in Mobay for that first night.

Call them and see what they can do. Do not be nice. The will make it right if they can! (Flights and seats)

AA has a policy that you can change your flights without charge if they make a change to your itinerary. Give a call and you should have no problem seeing what is available and making a change that works for your schedule. I have found AA (and other airlines) pretty good about this if the initial change is initiated on their end.

And don't take it out on the person on the other end of the line as they didn't make the change themselves...kindness always matters.

I'm sure my husband will post this also, but we always went out of Miami on American. This past October we decided to try Caribbean Air (formerly Air Jamaica) out of Fort Lauderdale. We took off 30 minutes early, seamless flights...customs at FLL on the return 1/2844th the time of MIA. The airport as a whole is better (pretty much anything is better than MIA!). No more Miami for these South FL residents!

I'm sure you may also find your flights INTO FLL (for those of you living elsewhere) to be cheaper in many cases.

We had the same problem with Delta several years ago when they dropped their direct flight out of CVG. They put us on the latest arriving flight into MoBay. We checked and there were still flights arriving earlier. My hubby called and we were put on earlier flight. That was the last time we flew Delta until last year.

AA has changed my flight times twice now. The first time the only change they made was to my departure date, having us leave earlier and arrive at MBJ earlier (fine by me). The second time they changed our departure and return flights. (which I discovered today thanks to this thread!) Our departure flight now leaves even early and puts us in Jamaica earlier, the return flight ended up being an overnight flight – no way…so I called AA and they were able to get us a direct return flight on the same day – no more overnight flight. Now I end up in Jamaica earlier and end up back home earlier than my original flights, so I’m happy

I'm sure my husband will post this also, but we always went out of Miami on American. This past October we decided to try Caribbean Air (formerly Air Jamaica) out of Fort Lauderdale. We took off 30 minutes early, seamless flights...customs at FLL on the return 1/2844th the time of MIA. The airport as a whole is better (pretty much anything is better than MIA!). No more Miami for these South FL residents!

I'm sure you may also find your flights INTO FLL (for those of you living elsewhere) to be cheaper in many cases.

For those of us who don't live in FL I don't think it would work because whatever airline we fly in on, we would have to get our luggage & then get to the Caribbean Air terminal & check in again.

Captain Jim... You're changing planes anyway, luggage is transferred from plane to plane. Sometimes even domestically people change airlines. Having traveled often for business and often through ATL, I would sometimes have to go to complete opposite ends of that airport to catch my next flight, and my luggage was transferred. Just trying to help ease your pain!

Captain Jim... You're changing planes anyway, luggage is transferred from plane to plane. Sometimes even domestically people change airlines. Having traveled often for business and often through ATL, I would sometimes have to go to complete opposite ends of that airport to catch my next flight, and my luggage was transferred. Just trying to help ease your pain!

Not all airlines have interline agreements for transferring your luggage.
I've also never seem an airline booking site (like Kayak) that offers a connection to Caribbean Air. Next time I'm booking a flight to MBJ I'll have to see if I can come up with that connection. It would be great if it can be done.

Switch to Caribbean Air out of Ft. Lauderdale. Better airline, better service, better timetable. We'll never go back to American Airlines.

Dear fawnridge, We had a nightmare flying Air Jamaica. First AJ sent us change tickets two weeks before we were ticketed to leave. They cancelled all flights from Houston. Continental, our new carrier to Fort Lauderdale, had a three hour mechanical out of Houston so we missed our AJ from FFL to MBJ. The next two AJ flights were cancelled out of FFL. It was spring break and by the time the Air Jamaica told us that we would be spending the night in Florida, 10:30 PM, all available motel rooms in the area were full. The next morning we flew from Fort Lauderdale to Kingston and on to Montego Bay, almost 24 hours late!!! To add insult to injury AJ removed my wife's bag in Kingston by mistake!!!
The bottom line is we lost a day at CTI, had screwed up air travel, lost a bag for a day and our travel insurance paid for nothing!!! But we had a great time at Couples once we finally got there. We'll NEVER fly AJ again.
Couples since 1991, E&L

They changed our flight too...I'm wonderinf if it has anything to do with the merger. They actually changed the DAY of our flight. I did some research to find a flight that worked better, called them, and they changed it with no problem. Maybe see if there is another flight that day that works better for you??

Captain Jim... You're changing planes anyway, luggage is transferred from plane to plane. Sometimes even domestically people change airlines. Having traveled often for business and often through ATL, I would sometimes have to go to complete opposite ends of that airport to catch my next flight, and my luggage was transferred. Just trying to help ease your pain!

Our Connection flight was in Atlanta- we rode that tram 5 or 6 stops from where we flew in from Detroit. They transferred our luggage automatically- all we had to do was hop the tram and get off at our gate. It took maybe 5-10 min....pretty slick....

Well I called and they switched us no charge so we land at 2pm. I can tolerate that. Thank you for all your advice, I feel much better

Softail...hopefully you checked with the AA agent to ensure they coupled your new outbound flight (the changed one) with you previous inbound. That's where we found the speed bump (return flight)...upon arrival at Sangster Int'l we tried to get baggage checked and boarding passes and found that we had seats but didn't have seats. Thank God we had 2 hours to fix the problem and the airline rep. supervisor knew what to do (unbook and rebook the whole travel). We didn't have a whole lot of time and pretty much went from TSA straight to the plane (now that's cutting it close). Hope all goes well and you have a great visit at your Couples Resort.

We travel from Providence RI and the last three times we have traveled to MBJ we have used Southwest to AirTrans. I have to say always on time and never a problem with our luggage. Prior to that we traveled from Boston when we had to get up in the middle of the night to drive the hour to Boston, pay to park for 10 days and have had our luggage lost...not for 1 day but my husbands for 2 days and mine for 2 1/2m our connections were extended by 2 hours and we lost time at our favorite place in the world... We now use AirTrans whenever possible!

Dear fawnridge, We had a nightmare flying Air Jamaica. First AJ sent us change tickets two weeks before we were ticketed to leave. They cancelled all flights from Houston. Continental, our new carrier to Fort Lauderdale, had a three hour mechanical out of Houston so we missed our AJ from FFL to MBJ. The next two AJ flights were cancelled out of FFL. It was spring break and by the time the Air Jamaica told us that we would be spending the night in Florida, 10:30 PM, all available motel rooms in the area were full. The next morning we flew from Fort Lauderdale to Kingston and on to Montego Bay, almost 24 hours late!!! To add insult to injury AJ removed my wife's bag in Kingston by mistake!!!
The bottom line is we lost a day at CTI, had screwed up air travel, lost a bag for a day and our travel insurance paid for nothing!!! But we had a great time at Couples once we finally got there. We'll NEVER fly AJ again.
Couples since 1991, E&L

Dear fawnridge, We had a nightmare flying Air Jamaica. First AJ sent us change tickets two weeks before we were ticketed to leave. They cancelled all flights from Houston. Continental, our new carrier to Fort Lauderdale, had a three hour mechanical out of Houston so we missed our AJ from FFL to MBJ. The next two AJ flights were cancelled out of FFL. It was spring break and by the time the Air Jamaica told us that we would be spending the night in Florida, 10:30 PM, all available motel rooms in the area were full. The next morning we flew from Fort Lauderdale to Kingston and on to Montego Bay, almost 24 hours late!!! To add insult to injury AJ removed my wife's bag in Kingston by mistake!!!
The bottom line is we lost a day at CTI, had screwed up air travel, lost a bag for a day and our travel insurance paid for nothing!!! But we had a great time at Couples once we finally got there. We'll NEVER fly AJ again.
Couples since 1991, E&L

Jamaica....what year was this? Hasn't been Air Jamaica in many years. Also, having worked in the hotel industry in Fort Lauderdale for many years! I can tell you that This has not been a Spring Break destination in over 20-25 years. More than likely, you were there during a citywide convention. That, and International Boat Show (late October) would be the only times the city sells out.